Nail polish kit



United States Patent O 2,721,561 NAIL POLISH KIT Flora K. Dyche, New York, N. Y. Application March 9, 1953, Serial No. 341,083 4 Claims. (Cl. 132-79) This invention relates` to toiletries and vthe like which are applied to the human body for improving the same both from the Aviewpoint of the physical' characteristics as -well asthe appearance of the same.

The invention'relates particularly to cosmetics which are applied to the body for improving the aesthetic qualities thereof including the color and texture of the skin, the physical appearance, and the odors and specifically to polish of the character which is applied to the nails of the fingers and toes for coloring and enhancing the appearance of the same and for imparting to each of them a distinctive appearance.

With the present wide-spread practice of embellishing the appearance of the finger nails through the care thereof andthe application of nail polish, many widely differentiated shades of such polish have been developed with a particular view to the irnprovement of the appearance of the user by supplementation of skin coloring, correlation of the same with the Clothing and with particular consideration of the hour of the day, and especially as affected by natural or artificial lighting, and many other extraneous factors. The gamut of shades and colors available for such uses is particularly extensive; however, the use thereof is circumscribed by serious limitations'of color contrast where a single shade or color v may not be used freely but must only be used under circumstances dependent upon conditions of attire or the like.

Further, present practice provides for the use of a. single color upon all of the nailsof both hands without v the combnation o f closely related shades since the commercially available products have provided sharp contrast between shades or colors without the simultaneous use or provision of carefully related or blended shades.

, Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a kitifhaving a plurality of colors of nail polish contained in individual bottles or receptacles, and with such polish comprising 'closely related shades blended from the same family.

Another object of the invention is to provide a kit containing five distinct but closely related color shades of a single color, so that such shades of polish provide a different gradaton of color for the nail of each finger of the hand, all of the shades in any one kit being so closely related as to harmonize one with the other, and to avoid any possibility of confiict or clash between such shades.v

Another object of the invention is to provide a kit of the character described usable in subdued light by means of the sense of touch, such kit including a rack or holder with individual bottles or receptacles from which polish may be used either while the bottles are in the rack or removed therefrom but with a connection vbetween the bottles and rack so that each bottle will always be in its proper position in the rack and each bottle will have ,a stopper and attached brush or applicator, which stopper will likewise always be in the proper bottle and mixture of colors avoided.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel method of applying polish to the nails, wherein the nails of each hand or foot receive uniformly closely related different shades or gradations of color in different ratio to the size and location of the nail.

VA still further object of the invention is to provide a nail polish kit including a plurality of receptacles for polish of different color gradations whereby particularly pleasing results closely related to the color of the costume or jewelry of the wearer may be obtained through the use lof polish of a different color gradation on each finger or toe.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanyng drawing, wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective of a nail polish kit in accordance with the present invention with the cover illustrated in open position to reveal the contents` Fig. 2, a side elevation of the stoppers and attached applicators apart from the bottles, and

Fig. 3, a plan view of a portion of the back of a han illustrating polish applied to the nails in accordance with the present invention.

Briefly stated, the invention comprises a kit which includes polish for the nails of the fingers and toes, which polish is of varying degrees of intensity and from the same color family in order to provide more delicate and artistic color application, or, in other words, so that each nail may harmonize with each other nail but 'the nails have progressive uniform Variation in hue or color. The polish is contained in bottles having readily discernible raised portions easily discernible to the touch, which for illustration are Roman numerals, and the holder for the bottles is provided with corresponding recesses so that each bottle Will only fit in one location. Likewise, the stoppers of the bottles are provided with corresponding raised portions or characters easily discernible to the touch and such stoppers vary in size as do the mouths of the bottles so that applicators carried by the stoppers will always be kept in the proper bottle. The applicators or brushes are preferably of corresponding sizes to assist in their being kept distinct and for appropriate application of polish to the large nail by the large applicator and to the small nail by the small applicator.

With continued reference to the drawing, there-is illustrated a nail polish kit or receptacle 10 for the application of color particularly to the fingers, but also to the toes. Such kit comprises a holder having a base portion including a rear Wall 11, a front Wall 12 and end walls 13. It will be noted that desirably the endV walls are L-shaped, the base of each end wall of Which is relatively narrow in width and complements the width of the front wall 12 so that the contents of the kit, in the form of bottles or containers of nail polish, may be removed and replaced with facility.

The holder further includes a cover 14 hingedly or flexibly mounted to the upper edge of the rear wall 11 along the line 15 and providing a top wall 16 and complementary front and end walls 17 and 18, respectively. A conveniently usable receptacle of attractive appearance is thus provided in which the end walls 18 of the cover fit snugly into the L-shaped end walls 13 of the base while the lower edge of the front Wall 17 of the cover 14 seats upon the upper edge of the reduced front Wall 12 of the base. If desired, the cover may be securely closed to prevent spilling of the contents of the receptacle.

The size and conformation of the holder 10 is such that a plurality of bottles or containers 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 of nail polish may be removably housed therein.

The bottles, in the order mentioned, are provided with raised portions readily discernible to the touch by means of which the bottles may be readily identified other than by sight. These raised portions may be` in the form of Roman numerals 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28. `In order to insure that the bottles are kept in the same locations in the holder, the loWer front wall 12 is provided'with recesses 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33 which are complementary to and adapted to receive the raised numerals 24, 25, 26,

27 and 28. Each bottle can only be inscrted in its particular place.

The bottles are provided with stoppers 34, 35, 36, 37 and 38 of graduated sizes, the first of which is the longest, and each stopper is provided with raised touch identification portions 24', 25', 26', 27' and 28' to aid in keeping the proper stopper on the proper bottle. Applicators 39, 40, 41, 42 and 43, of graduated size and configuration, are carried by the stoppers with the largest applicator carried by the largest stopper thus facilitating identification and use.

Each of the containers 19 is intended to hold a different shade of finger nail polish, all of these shades being of the same color, thus, the first container may hold the lightest of such shades and the next bottle the next lightest shade, etc. Since it is conceivable that these shades may differ only in an extremely slight degree, and that the Variation may not be readily identifiable to the eye of the unskilled or in subdued light, the use of Roman numerals as identifying indicia permits the sense of touch to be used and therefore removes possibility of confusion since with the bottles progressively dentifiable with the lowest numeral associated with the darkest shade and each higher numeral identifying an increasingly lighter shade. Thus problems of confusion are avoided.

In the novel manner of use of the nail polish kit thus described, it is contemplated that each finger of a hand will have a different shade of polish applied to the nail thereof, the gradation of shades being employed progressively with the identical arrangement on each hand.

Since the thumb nail 44 is substantially broader than the nail of any of the four fingers, the lightest shade from the bottle 19 is preferably applied thereto. In progressive order the four fingers 45, 46, 47 and 48 from the index finger through the little finger will receive the graduated shades of nail polish from the bottles 20, 21, 22 and 23, respectively.

While the invention is by no means restricted by the color use suggested, it has been found in practice that the finger nail of the little finger is best suited to the use of the darkest shade of color, the area of the nail of this finger being best adapted for the displaying of the darker Shade rather than having such a shade appear on the thumb Where too great an expanse is provided for the most advantageous showing of the color gradation proposed.

Further, where a particular color has been carefully selected for use with a specific ensemble of gown and costume jewelry, or either of these items, it has been found to be appropriate to have either the lightest or the darkest shade a precise color match, with the remaining shades of color employed grading either toward or away from the color being complemented, depending, of course, upon whether the color in question is a dark or light one.

It will be understood that the several gradations or shades of color present in any one kit make it desirable that they be taken from the same color family. Thus there is no problem of matching the colors or shades in any kit, it only being necessary to select a plurality of shades taken from an identical color family, with substantially uniform degrees of Variation between each shade and the next darker one. Nor is there any necessity for any particularly close match between polish and costume or any other controlling factor. It is only necessary that the color of nail polish and the color being complemented be of the identical color family, so that there can be no possibility of color clash therebetween. Under these circumstances each of the shades of color present in the kit will of necessity blend with the color being complemented.

Further, the nail polish kit thus provided is by no means limited to use in the novel manner proposed since if it should be preferred to employ but a single Shade for all of the nails it is only necessary to select the particular shade of the plurality provided which will serve the purpose most ornamentally, each kit furnishing a relatively wide range of selection for this purpose.

There has been described a novel nail polish kit and a novel method of applying polish to the nails, with the nails of each hand, beginning with the thumb nail and progressively moving through the index finger to the little finger, having a different and closely related shade of the same color family, these color shades being of uniformly varying degrees of intensity.

It will be obvious to those skilled in this art that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not considered limited by that which is illustrated in the drawing and described in the specification but only as indicated in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A nail polish kit comprising in combination a holder, a series of containers of a size to fit into said holder, a series of closures for said containers, and a series of applicators each of a different size carried by said closures, cooperating means perceptible to the touch on said holder and containers for locating said containers in a definite relation within said holder and by means of which said containers may be identified, similar identifying means on said closures perceptible to the touch by which said closures may be identified, said closures varying in size to facilitate such identification, and a series of nail polishes of varying hues but of the same color family in said containers.

2. A nail polish kit comprising in combination a holder, a series of containers of a size to fit into said holder, a series of closures for said containers, and a series of applicators carried by said closures, cooperating means perceptible to the touch on said holder and containers for locating said containers in a definite relation within said holder and by means of which said containers may be identified, similar identifying means on said closures perceptible to the touch by which said closures may be identified, and a series of nail polishes of varying hues but of the same color family in said containers.

3. A nail polish kit comprising a series of containers of similar size, a series of closures for said containers, a series of applicators attached one to each of said closures in a manner to be carried thereby, a holder for said containers, cooperative means perceptible to the touch locating said containers in a definite relation in said holder and by means of which said containers may be identified, means on said closures perceptible to the touch by means of which said closures may be identified, said closures varying in size to further facilitate such identification; the identifying means on the containers, holder and closures being substantially similar.

4. A nail polish kit comprising a holder, a series of receptacles corresponding in number to the number of fingers of the human hand for holding coloring of different hues from the same color family and with substantially uniform variations in such hues, each receptacle having identification means for facilitating the identification of the different receptacles containing the different hues, the receptacles having openings for stoppers, each corresponding in size to the size of the respective opening, a combination stopper and applicator for each receptacle and having a finger engaging portion with identification means thereon by means of which they may be distinguished, the identifying means on the receptacles and stoppers being substantially similar.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,264,713 Tyson Apr. 30, 1918 1,790,122 Tourtois Jan. 27, l93l 2,219,597 Lutz Oct. 29, 1940 2,389,385 Owen Nov. 20, 1945 2,504,677 Fraser et al Apr. 18, 1950 2,581,207 Sambleson Jan. 1, 1952 

